


Primer: Hockey Shit With JR

by JeannetteRankin



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic), Men's Hockey RPF, Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Hockey, Meta, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Primer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-01-31 10:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18589141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeannetteRankin/pseuds/JeannetteRankin
Summary: When I started watching hockey I had to google a bunch of stuff like "how many players are on a hockey team" and "how long is a hockey game". Here, I try to clearly and simply explain some of the tricky concepts that bewildered me at first. Read these and You Will Never Be Confused About Hockey Shit Again (TM).Some were originally posted to Tumblr, and I will be adding more. If you have questions, leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer!Featuring: THE OFFSIDE RULE // THE ICING RULE





	1. The Offside Rule

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the heck is the offside rule, anyway?? One evening when I was running on about two hours of sleep, I decided to try and figure it out.
> 
> [Original Tumblr Post](https://itsacpsideblog.tumblr.com/post/156011840419/itsacpsideblog-alright-listen-its-time-to)

alright, listen, it’s time to come clean. I’ve never understood the offsides rule in hockey (even though i’ve had it explained to me before). I admit it. It has something to do with which players can be in which zone when. that’s all i know.

So i’m gonna go look it up and come back and explain it. wait here.

*

OKAY I’VE GOT IT. Listen up, I’m going to explain some Hockey Shit™ I just myself learned in the last ten minutes and you will never be confused about the offside rule again, guaranteed*

This is the hockey rink. On the left is where your goalie is. That’s your  **defensive zone**. On the right is where the other team’s goalie is. That’s your  **offensive zone**. 

The part between the blue lines in the middle is the  **neutral zone**. 

If the puck is in YOUR ZONE aka YOUR DEFENSIVE ZONE, that’s BAD. Because it’s near your goalie and it’s easy to get scored on. So you want to get the puck (and your players) into the OFFENSIVE ZONE. You’re pretty much always trying to do this. 

BUT!!!! You, yourself, CANNOT GO INTO THE OFFENSIVE ZONE  **BEFORE THE PUCK DOES**. If the puck is still in your defensive zone (or the neutral zone), you cannot cross that blue line into the Offensive zone:

So you have to wait until the puck goes over there, or you have to take the puck and skate on over there with it. (there’s some more details to the rules here, but let’s skip those for now)

**WHY????????**

…you may be asking. Why can’t I just skate into the offensive zone, if I see a teammate is heading that way with the puck?

Because if this rule didn’t exist, then it would be a good strategy for players to skate into the offensive zone and just camp out by the other team’s goal, waiting for someone to pass them the puck so they could shoot it in.

**Would that actually be so bad?**  IDK. but the hockey gods decided they DON’T want camping. So to prevent camping, they made this rule: no hockey players can go into the offensive zone before the puck does.

NO PUCK, NO GO.

And that’s the offside rule.

 

 

[Further reading: ([source 1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offside_\(ice_hockey\)#Rules)) ([source 2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=528135)) ([source 3](https://sports.stackexchange.com/questions/1448/why-was-offside-introduced-and-are-there-reasons-for-keeping-it)) ([source 4](https://thehockeywriters.com/hockey-101-offside/))]

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original tags: #*not actually guaranteed #also i learned it's the offside rule not the offsides rule with an s on the end #THE MORE YOU KNOW #hockey stuff #posts #ENJOY YOU'RE WELCOME
> 
> *
> 
> If you've got Hockey Questions, leave them in the comments here, and I'll do my best to get you some Hockey Answers


	2. The Icing Rule EXPLAINED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The age old question: what's the deal with the icing rule anyway?
> 
> ([Original Tumblr Post](http://itsacpsideblog.tumblr.com/post/161709181479/the-icing-rule-explained))

> erinkatz asked
> 
> Your explanation of "offsides" just showed up on my dash. It was wonderful, and I feel bad asking for anything more. If you have energy left, would you describe icing relative to offside? Thank you either way. You're a great hockey tumblr.

*

awww yeah!!! I’m glad you liked [the offside post](https://itsacpsideblog.tumblr.com/post/156011840419/itsacpsideblog-alright-listen-its-time-to)!! I’m giving myself a high five for being a [successful hockey educator](https://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/post/69546509167)

ah, @erinkatz the icing rule. OKAY, I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but I did a little research to be sure and found out some interesting things, so sit back, relax, and lemme edutain you

SO,  **offside**  governs where  _you_ , the player, can go and is designed to prevent you from camping out by the opponent’s goal.  **Icing**  controls where the  _puck_  can go, and is intended to stop you from slowing the game down to buy yourself time.

Let’s get to the rink and see what’s going on. On the left side is your Defensive Zone aka your zone. That’s where your goal is. On the right is your opponent’s zone, the Offensive Zone.

Now, imagine that  **all the action is in your zone**  right now. All the players are there, the other team controls the puck, and they keep shooting at your goalie. RUDE. You (the hexagon) are probably pretty worried that you’re about to get scored on.

If the puck comes to you, you might be temped to do this:

To just shoot the puck as far down the ice as you can to get it  **away**  from your zone and give your team time to re-group. 

Wellllllll, sounds smart, but,  **once the puck crosses both the red center line and the other team’s goal line, WITHOUT BEING TOUCHED, that’s icing:**

**  
**

Note that it’s  **not a penalty** , though!! When it happens, the linesman just takes the puck back into YOUR ZONE for a new faceoff. Basically like a big ‘lol u tried it’

For a while, teams would do this just to get a chance to change out tired players for new ones, so a while back they modified it so that you also  **can’t change players**  for the new faceoff.

There are some exceptions and other details, but basically that’s it. Teams used to slow down the action a lot by just dumping the puck out of their zone, making everyone skate down the ice after it. This rule helps prevent that.

**Want to get a breather by shooting the puck waaaaaayyyy down the ice away from your goalie? The icing rule says:**

****

 

 

[Sources and further reading: ([source 1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icing_\(ice_hockey\))) ([source 2](https://thehockeywriters.com/icing-hockey-the-rules/)) ([source 3](https://www.hockeymonkey.com/article-icing-rule-explained.html)) ([you can’t do that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josEPIBNhEw))]


End file.
